


The Tea Girl

by noblydonedonnanoble



Series: Waiting on the Sun to Go Down [1]
Category: Doctor Who RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-13
Updated: 2012-06-22
Packaged: 2017-11-07 15:54:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/432881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noblydonedonnanoble/pseuds/noblydonedonnanoble
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>David liked to think of her as “the Tea Girl”—the girl he saw, without fail, every time he ran into that shop on the corner for some early-morning caffeine before school.</p><p>bb!Tatennant!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

                David liked to think of her as “the Tea Girl”—the girl he saw, without fail, every time he ran into that shop on the corner for some early-morning caffeine before school. She always seemed to arrive right before or after him, and he took to paying attention to her order because, he realized, she _never_ got the same drink twice. On those occasions when she ordered before him, he sometimes got the same drink, just so he could see her subtly glance in his direction.

                The two of them never actually _spoke_ , aside from maybe a murmured apology if one bumped into the other on the way to retrieve a drink. David swore to himself that one day, he would try to initiate a conversation, say something about football or a new film or the _weather_ for God’s sake, as long as it was something relevant enough to elicit a response. Or tea. He could always talk about tea, because judging from the fact that she regularly consumed tea that he’d never even _heard_ of, she probably was proficient in conversation about it.

                When the not-so-momentous event finally did occur, it was not David’s doing. The Tea Girl was standing behind him as he ordered his drink, and while he was paying she tapped him on the shoulder. “Excuse me?”

                David turned to face her. As the knowledge that he was talking to this woman penetrated his skull entirely, his expression began to more closely resemble a deer in the headlights. It took him approximately five seconds to recover completely.  “Uh—I- y… yes?”

                It seemed for a moment like the Tea Girl wanted to laugh at him, but David called himself paranoid; perhaps it’s worth it to mention that she _did_ want to laugh, but only because David was being fairly adorable. Which she had noticed during their frequent visits and which she felt overjoyed to have directed at her for once.

                “The program in your bag—have you seen that play?”

                Oh. That was not exactly what David had expected to hear. He glanced at his bag and saw that a program for the play he was currently _in_ was sticking out slightly. “Oh, actually no, I—“

                “Because one of my mates told me it was absolutely horrendous, but I always get a second opinion when she gives me reviews because honestly she’s not the most reliable source when it comes to such things. If there’s not some sexy man center stage constantly, she despises it.”

                David stammered for a few moments for something to say, before finally deciding on just saying, “Really.”

                “Oh yeah. Mind if I look at that?”

                 With a small smile, he handed it to her. While she began to peruse it, he received his change and stood aside to let her order. She off-handedly ordered the same drink as David—it was a repeat, but he found that he didn’t particularly mind.

                As she came to stand next to him, she sighed. “Yeah, this guy here—his name is David McDonald—my friend said he made the weirdest faces she’d ever  seen. And not a good kind of weird, just sort of bizarre.”

                “Interesting.” His tone was one of slight amusement.

                Catherine could see that he wasn’t telling her something, but could not for the life of her pick out what that thing was. So she cleared her throat. “I’m sorry, I’m so rude. My name is Catherine Ford, by the way. Been meaning to introduce myself for a while now; we always both seem to be here in the mornings, y’know?”

                “Of course, of course. Nice to meet you, Catherine!” He stuck his hand out with a wide grin. “The name’s David McDonald.”

                Now he was the one who was trying to stifle laughter. Her eyes grew wide as she looked at him, down at the program in her hands, and back up at him once more. There was a moment where she clearly reviewed every word she’d said to him in her head, and he delighted in the way she winced slightly each time she got to another rather incriminating comment.

                “David McDonald. Really. I don’t suppose you could tell me it’s not—“

                He shrugged at her. “’Fraid it is. Weird faces, really? I’ve always just thought of myself as emotive. And not sexy? I most certainly take offense to that statement. I thought I absolutely exude sexy.”

                “Well, I mean… She does have very selective taste.” Not true. This particular mate of Catherine’s would fling herself at any reasonably attractive man in a two mile radius. “And as far as I can tell, you don’t make weird faces. You seem totally emotive a- you seem totally emotive to me.”

                David noticed the way that she seemed to momentarily stumble toward the “sexy” part. He couldn’t stop grinning. “Ms. Ford, let me assure you that I am in no way offended. Though I think perhaps you could benefit from seeing my performance first-hand?”

                She was still flushed red, and honestly was a bit skeptical about whether David actually didn’t care or if he was being nice. But the expression on his face seemed to be almost hopeful. And she wanted, so badly, to make a good impression on this boy—she’d wanted to since the day months ago when he first came in right after her. He was giving her a chance to make a good second impression, since both of them knew that she’d rather blown her first (although for some reason, he seemed more amused by this concept than anything else).

                “Yeah, sure. I’ll come.”

                “Wonderful.” David picked up his cup and sent a last smile Catherine’s way. “See you tomorrow morning, I presume.”

                And hopefully Catherine wouldn’t stick her foot in her mouth.


	2. Chapter 2

                Both of them were immensely eager to talk again the next day. Consequently, they both arrived approximately fifteen minutes earlier than they usually did. Since they got there simultaneously, though, they both actually felt slightly late.

                David gestured for Catherine to join the queue in front of him, and she did the same to him. This, of course, led to a few awkward moments of stepping forward and back between the two of them, until David finally reached out and took Catherine by the shoulders, literally placing her in front of him.

                This arrangement now agreed upon, he said, “Miss Catherine Ford! Fancy meeting you here.”

                She cocked an eyebrow at him. “We’ve never met anywhere _other_ than here. If we were to run into each other _anywhere_ , I’d expect it to be here.”

                David bounced back and forth on the balls of his feet, and her literal reaction to his comment didn’t seem to faze him. “What is it that you’re on your way to do on this beautiful morning?”

                It was pouring outside, but she chose to flat-out ignore that. “I’m on my way to an audition, actually. I have to take the train to some God forsaken place on the other side of the city. Right now, though, I’d go to an audition on the other side of the _country_ if I thought it sounded at all promising—not all of us have horrendous plays that we’re starring in.”

                The fact that Catherine was trying to make light of her previous embarrassment both surprised and pleased David, but he made no comment on that. Instead he just gave her a generic, sympathetic look. “How do you plan to entertain yourself on this agonizingly long train ride?”

                “Well, I had plans to bring a book, but I was so distracted this morning—“ by the prospect of seeing David “—that I forgot it at home. So I intend to stare out at the beautiful scenery that is the underground, and make weird faces at the other passengers, and maybe read each sign twenty thousand times before I have to get off.” Even when Catherine _had_ a book, or was riding on the underground with one of her friends, this was very often what she ended up doing anyway. The book had always honestly mostly been a way to make her feel productive.

                “Honestly, that sounds more entertaining than reading a book anyway.” He grinned—he couldn’t believe how much he grinned around her, and though Catherine noticed his smile and quite liked it, she didn’t really understand the full degree to which it was _her_ that made him look so cheery.

                “What about you?” She glanced down the queue, and for the first time found herself wishing that it was longer so that this conversation could go uninterrupted for longer too. “What do your plans involve?”

                “I’m going to school. That’s where I’m on my way to most mornings when I come in here, actually.”

                School. School? Catherine immediately began silently speculating over his age, wondering if he was still a minor and why he was talking to her so carelessly and why on earth was he looking at her again like he wanted to laugh?

                It had been ages since David met someone whose thoughts were so clear to him; in fact, he wasn’t sure he’d ever met _anyone_ who made this much sense. So maybe he did want to laugh, just a little bit. But only because she suddenly seemed to be very concerned that she might be a pedophile. “Today’s my last day, actually. Ever. It’s quite exciting for me.” Not as exciting as speaking to Catherine, but almost.

                An expression of relief replaced her clear alarm. “You don’t say.”

                “I do. Now I’m all set to make my way in the world as another struggling young actor who will, no doubt, make plenty of trips across the city for auditions. And make faces at people on the underground instead of asking my mates if I can borrow a book.”

                “I… Um. Can I borrow a book?”

                “Well, as a matter of fact…” David began to rifle around in his bag. “I do believe I’ve got an extra copy of _A Tale of Two Cities_ somewhere in here.”

                “Dear God no. I couldn’t get more than two pages into that book. I’d rather just make faces at people.”

                He ignored her and continued looking.

                “David really I don’t want to—how much stuff do you have _in_ there?”

                “My bag’s a lot bigger on the inside, sorry. I’m actually secretly Doctor Who.”

                It pleased him to have an opportunity to make the reference, and made him even happier that when he glanced up at her momentarily, she was smiling about it.

                Although she was mostly smiling because he actually managed to say that with a straight face. But it was enough that when he finally pulled the book out, she took it. “I’m not going to read it,” she promised.

                “Take it anyway. Some weight off my back… literally.”

                She groaned. “David McDonald, you’re absurd.”

                “And you’re next. Go on, order.” He gestured her forward and she spun around, immediately flushing a bit because it was clear they’d been holding things up.

                The entire time, she was all too aware of the way David was only a few steps behind her. He was rocking back and forth on his heels, and somehow she could _tell_ even though she was facing in the other direction and it was driving her mad. She stumbled over her order and behind her, David still couldn’t stop grinning.

                They walked out of the shop together, and as David watched Catherine disappear into the crowd he shouted, “Enjoy the book!”

                When she turned to scowl at him, he was nowhere to be found.

                On the underground, she had no opportunity to make faces at the other passengers because her nose was buried in _A Tale of Two Cities_ the entire time.


	3. Chapter 3

                David was actually sitting at a table reading _Great Expectations_ when Catherine walked into the shop that morning. While she was waiting, they played a game of sorts where they tried very hard to look at each other without being caught. The problem with such a game is that very often the two people will, of course, look at the same time and then look away, blushing, and glance over at the same time _repeatedly_ until finally the concept of actual conversation is almost mortifying.

                This is essentially what happened, although David was at a slight advantage because he had a book that he could at least pretend to be interested in. Once she had her tea safely in her hand, it took all of Catherine’s willpower to nonchalantly stroll over to the table and sit down across from him. “Morning, David!”

                A bit too quickly, he shut his book.“Hi Catherine! Did you have fun making faces at people?”

                She grimaced. “I didn’t… I didn’t get around to it.”

                David hit the table a bit too excitedly, and a few people around them turned to see what was going on. “You were reading my book! So tell me, how far are you?”

                “I might have actually… finished it?” When his jaw dropped slightly, she shrugged and said, “There was a really long wait at the audition.” In all actuality, the wait was not at all long at the audition. Catherine had stayed up until two in the morning finishing the book, both because she found it interesting and because she wanted to make him happy. Although near the end she kind of did start skimming past some of the more detailed bits because really she was _tired_. Though the end was very inspiring.

                At least Catherine was pretty certain that the end was inspiring.

                “What did you think of it?”

                “I liked it a lot. It didn’t put me to sleep like I expected it to.” Like it did the first time she tried to read it. “Would you like it back?”

                “Oh yeah, sure. I might as well just create a walking Dickens library.”

                While Catherine looked through her bag, instead of making some comment about the great amount of stuff she kept on there, David said, “How did the audition go?”

                Abysmal. It was absolutely not worth it. Speaking into her bag, she said, “Alright, I s’pose. We’ll just have to see.”

                “That bad, huh?” The fact that Catherine continued to stare very intently downward—she was in fact pretending to be immensely intrigued by her lip balm—assured David that his assumption was correct. “I’m sorry to hear that. Was it some role that you were really eager to play?”

                She shook her head. It seemed that David was waiting for her to actually respond, so after a moment she grabbed _A Tale of Two Cities_ and looked up, sliding it across the table to him. “Honestly? No. I didn’t even want it. It was just something I did to get my mum off my back. She said instead of auditioning for all of these silly plays I keep trying to get in and failing, I should do something practical and go for adverts.”

                “Miss Ford.” David leaned forward, settling his chin in his hand. “I made your acquaintance two days ago and I can already tell that you’re not practical.”

                “Do you always talk like that?” Catherine actually kind of liked it, but was not about to say so.

                “There are two situations for which I might speak in such a manner—to be ironic, and to impress a woman. This, of course, is neither.”

                David was uncertain how well that would go over, but he needn’t have worried; Catherine let out a laugh so loud and obnoxious that she immediately covered her mouth, eyes wide. “Stop, David. I’m supposed to be all somber and tragic right now because I have no future to speak of and because I’m going to die an old maid who is still living under her mother’s roof. Why won’t you just let me accept this unfortunate fate gracefully? Instead, there you go, making me laugh.”

                “If you’re going to die an old maid, you might as well laugh about it a bit, don’t you think?” David picked up his tea and took a big gulp of it, pointedly looking at his mug instead of at her. “And I’m sure you won’t die an old maid, Catherine.”

                Neither of them knew precisely what to say after that. David immediately felt like he sounded too forward. Catherine didn’t see things that way, and was just delighted and embarrassed that he said it so earnestly. Finally, he cleared his throat and said, “So closing night of my play is this evening. Interested in coming to see it? Because as I recall, you’ve heard some rather harsh words in regards to it. And some rather harsh words in regards to my face. For which, I would like to note, my face is rather offended. Although I don’t particularly mind. It is a rather strange face.”

                She giggled. David had never made a woman giggle. “Yeah, I can come. And I don’t see any problems with your face.”

                Now she was the one who felt too forward and David was the one who felt delighted and embarrassed. Another bout of silence ensued where they drank their tea and looked at each other. David liked it, waking up and coming to see Catherine. He wondered what it would be like to wake up to her every morning. To sit in his kitchen and sip tea together instead.

                Which was probably the most forward thought of all.

                Catherine was thinking along quite the same lines, and far more unabashedly.

                “Will I be allowed to talk to the star after the show?” she asked suddenly.

                “That could probably be arranged.”

                “It should be arranged.”

                There was a moment, as they smirked at each other. A moment where David and Catherine were both entirely transparent. And not to be sappy or anything, but it’s probably worth it to mention that that was the moment when they began to fall in love.


	4. Chapter 4

                David told Catherine to run out to the stage door as soon as the bows happened, and she did. Meanwhile, he practically sprinted off stage and through the halls. By the time he cracked the door open, though, she was already standing there, patiently waiting.

                “Evening! Come on, you can wait in my dressing room and then we’ll go out.”

                He grabbed her hand without really thinking and pulled her inside. As a few of the other cast members filtered past them and glanced at her, she wondered what they thought—of David, of her, of the way he was very blatantly bringing her in the direction of his dressing room. Because even though he knew he had no untoward intentions, and even though _she_ knew he had no untoward intentions, she couldn’t help imagining that everyone else thought he had untoward intentions and this led her to imagining said untoward intentions.

                And she almost didn’t mind imagining said untoward intentions.

                Though she of course did not have any untoward intentions or intend to initiate any inkling of untoward intentions he could have even possibly had.

                What it came down to was that Catherine was the only one thinking about untoward intentions.

                Except for David. Although he was mostly just thinking that dear God he didn’t want her imagining that he had untoward intentions and wow holding her hand totally was suggesting that he had untoward intentions but if he let go it would probably have been more awkward so he held on and just prayed for the best.

                “Here we are, then.” David stopped in front of a door, and took the opportunity to release her hand when he opened it. She followed after him cautiously, as though blaring alarms were going to go off when she entered the room. They didn’t, but when he gestured for her to sit down in a chair she still did so cautiously. “Catherine, I guarantee that you have no reason to look so terrified. You’re in my dressing room, what do you think is going to happen?”

                As soon as he said it he started panicking internally about the untoward intentions thing again, but it actually made Catherine feel more settled.

                While David was looking around for his street clothes—which he had a bad habit of tossing into random corners of the room—he said, “So. Horrendous? Not horrendous?”

                “I would definitely say ‘not horrendous’ is far more accurate.”

                She really had enjoyed it. Although in general, she hated going to plays by herself because she was the type that liked to make comments about some things. Or everything. But she loved it. She loved watching David on stage, because he was so full of enthusiasm and energy. It was also an excuse to look at his not-weird face.

                “I’m glad to hear it!” He successfully found the last piece of his clothing and stood up, looking at Catherine with a grin. “D’you mind if I just change?” He sounded far more indifferent about the concept than he actually felt.

                “No, go right ahead.” She waved him on, sounding only slightly more indifferent than she actually felt.

                David began with his trousers, because he wanted to get those over with. While hopping out of them, he said, “In all seriousness, though, what did you think?”

                “It was splendid, David. Really.” She was trying desperately to keep her eyes wandering around the room, but it was such a bare room that she was struggling to look at anything that wasn’t a stripping David. “And you were brilliant.”

                He almost fell forward when he glanced up at her, but he looked overjoyed. “Really? You think so?”

                She was making him so happy… She liked seeing him happy. “Yes, really.”

                By now his jeans were on, and he was tugging off his shirt. “And what about my face? Was my face too weird for you?”

                The response to this question had a lot riding on it, although neither Catherine nor David understood the full degree to which this was the case. David thought he was simply teasing. And while Catherine felt pressure to give an answer that simultaneously didn’t offend him and didn’t make her look desperate, she didn’t think that it would matter—in the long run, at least.

                After a moment of thought, she said, “Your face was kind of weird.”

                He paused with just his head and one arm poking through his shirt. Immediately, he began running through a mental list of ways she could possibly mean that and which one was her own meaning. He looked at her, clearly wary.

                Catherine just chuckled and grinned. “I like your weird face, David, stop staring at me like I’ve betrayed you.”

                “You’re telling me that my face is weird, but that you calling it weird is, in fact, a compliment. You’re saying that I should be happy that you think I have a weird face.” He slid his shirt on the rest of the way and put his hands on his hips. “You think that a weird face is _good_?”

                “With you? Somehow… yes.”

                David regarded her closely; he looked her in the eye, and she stared right back. Something about the impression that he got made him blush, and Catherine liked knowing that she had such an effect on him. He broke eye contact first, and sat down on the floor to put on his socks.

                “David?”

                When he looked up at her, her eyes were sparkling, and almost as quickly as she had made his grin disappear, it came back thanks to the smile on her face. “I really like your weird face. And the rest of you too.”

                The words ran through his head. He processed them, she saw it. She watched as he again questioned meanings and interpreted her words.

                She had seen all of that coming.

                And though she swore that she saw this coming too, she in no way expected David to jump up from the floor, cup her face in his hands and kiss her.


	5. Chapter 5

                Because David considered himself a gentleman, and considered it the gentlemanly thing to do, he pulled away after just a few seconds. Catherine looked at him, slightly startled, although even she would not be able to say for sure whether she was more surprised by the fact that he kissed her or by the fact that he ended it so quickly.

                He saw her bemused expression, and took it quite the wrong way. “I’m… I’m sorry. That was rather forward of me. Was that… was that okay?”

                “David…” Catherine reached her hands out to him. After a second of staring at them, he realized what she was suggesting and he pulled her up. He tried to hold on, but she released his hands so that she could wrap her arms around his neck. She stood on her toes, and whispered in his ear, “That was absolutely okay.” She pecked him on the cheek before pulling away and grabbing his hand again. “C’mon, shall we?”

                This was a woman who’d lived most of her life thinking that she would never have a very great effect on men. Men did not fawn over her, men did not fall over themselves attempting to please her. And she was okay with it.

                Yet David looked at her with such a dazzled expression. He was enamored with her, and she could feel it. It was an absolutely spectacular feeling. When she grinned at him, it pulled him out of his daze, and he grinned back. “Alright. I know a spectacular little pub a few blocks away, let me just put my shoes on and we’ll go.”

                Catherine didn’t drink. And she could have brought it up—with some men, she might have. But the men she would have said it to in such a situation just so happened to be the men she wasn’t all that interested in. If David wanted to take her to a pub, she would go, because honestly she could go _anywhere_ with him and feel comfortable.

                This time, when he walked with her through the theatre, she was the one who took his hand. He did his best to hide the fact that he was screaming inside over the fact that Catherine genuinely liked him. She was completely unaware, because she was reacting in quite the same manner.

                Neither of them said another word until they were already outside and strolling down the street together. It was David who spoke first. “You know, I’ve been trying to work up the nerve to speak with you for months.”

                “Really?”

                “Oh yeah. After I first saw you, I did anything to get there around the same time in the hopes of seeing you there.” He looked down, grinning at his feet. “I didn’t want to miss a day of tea once I realized you always drank something different.”

                “You noticed that? Really?”

                “Yeah! I didn’t even know some of those existed!”

                Catherine giggled. “Neither did I. I noticed you months ago, too, and I started buying different tea every day to see if you would notice. But I went to the library and looked up different kinds of tea.”

                They looked at each other with ridiculously wide smiles, the kind of cutesy couple look that would make a single onlooker cringe. Or even a not-single onlooker.

                “I did notice, so I suppose it worked.” David paused for a few moments before he gave Catherine’s hand a squeeze. “I told one of my mates about you. You wanna know what I referred to you as?”

                “Hmm?”

                “’The Tea Girl’. So clearly I noticed.”

                “’The Tea Girl’?” She liked that. She liked tea, and she liked the fact that she and David apparently now connected tea to one another. “Huh. That’s actually really sweet. Did your mate ooo and ahh over how adorable and dazzled you were? Because I’m assuming you were clearly dazzled.”

                “Oh yes. Very, very dazzled.” And this made of his hadn’t let him live it down since.

                They arrived at the pub, and David held the door for her as she walked inside. The two of them found an empty booth near the back.

                “I’m going to go get a drink. Would you like something?”

                Catherine shrugged. “I’ll take a Coke, I suppose?”

                For his entire walk from the table to the bar, David turned that sentence over in his head. A Coke. Did she just not feel like drinking, or did she not drink in general? Would she be offended if he was drinking alcohol and she wasn’t? Should he get a Coke too? Would she think it unnatural if he brought her to a pub and then didn’t drink?

                After much more thought than really necessary, he ordered a beer.

                When he returned to the table, Catherine was positively bouncing with energy. Energy from being with David, energy from being happy, energy just because she was Catherine. When she saw that he had bought himself a beer, she actually smiled. It made her happy, that he wasn’t allowing himself to be pressured by what she wanted.

                “Thank you, David.”

                A period of time passed in silence, while they drank, and looked at each other, and drank some more. Finally, David said, “Do I have to just keep hoping to bump into you every morning while we’re buying our tea?”

                She looked at him closely for a moment, cocking her head slightly to the side. “I s’pose I could give you my number. Although I kinda like seeing you every morning. Sometimes, you’ve literally been the only think getting me out of bed in the morning.”

                “Really?” She nodded, and the concept made him feel slightly overwhelmed. Although for the first time, he liked the idea of being a little overwhelmed.

                They stayed out until after two, talking and laughing together. Before helping her into a cab, David kissed her again—this time far more sure, more bold.

                Catherine stared out the back window at him, waving goodbye. A thought had crossed her mind, while sitting with him. That she could have invited him back with her.

                Somehow, though, that hadn’t felt right. Despite all of their easy smiles, she didn’t want him back at her flat yet.

                To her, David felt like the kind of person who deserved “right”.


End file.
